Israel’s national trade union centre, the Histadrut, announced this week that it was calling off its planned general strike in the public sector after reaching an agreement with the Minister of Finance.

Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini who participated in the negotiations called the deal “good for workers” in a statement published on the union’s website (in Hebrew).

At the heart of the deal is a 6.25% wage increase across the board for public sector workers, spread out over three and a half years.

As part of the deal, every public sector worker covered by the agreement will receive a one-off bonus of NIS 2,000 (US$554) in their November salaries.

In addition, special bonuses are to be paid to women workers.  Mothers will receive special monthly bonuses of NIS 300 for their first child under the age of five, and NIS 200 for the second child.

Eini commented that “this was one of the few times that an agreement on wages was reached without even one day of strikes” — a reflection of the growing power of the Histadrut.

The Histadrut’s achievement is all the more remarkable as other public sector unions around the world battle austerity budgets, cutbacks, and mass sackings.

Some in the global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign insist on dismissing the Histadrut as irrelevant, or as “tool of the Zionist state”.

But the reality is that unions everywhere can learn from this kind of success story.